I was also looking forward to new Slayer, U2, and Mastodon, but they decided otherwise. Now that my days are more likely to involve sitting inside and staring at a drawing desk since I'm moving to a city where I don't know anybody, I might end up spending more on music. We'll see.

Yeah, I was really surprised with Death Magnetic, and should be included in my "Others that I've enjoyed!" section.

I've yet to check out AC/DC or the new Beck. In Rainbows would probably fall into the "disappointments" more than the enjoyed, but I can't say I hated the the whole thing. I just haven't really enjoyed the production on Radiohead albums since Ok Computer, but do generally enjoy the songs live.

im normally a whore for these lists, but a) i havent bought a lot of really great albums this year and b) i havent sat down and really thought about this yet.

in no particular order since i havent organized it that way yet:HENRY FIATS OPEN SORE-mondo blotto (like i havent talked about this enough in the past few weeks... garage rock kick in the face)PANIC AT THE DISCO-pretty.odd. (the catchiest ((and also most derivitave, to be honest)) pop record that i got hooked on all year)GENGHIS TRON-board up the house (electronic. layered. spastic grind.)FAILURES-failures (this record is hands down the most interesting hardcore record of the year. it didnt have a lot of competition because this was a weak year for hardocre AND its seriously fucking good)SEX/VID-nests ep (worthy of the list for having one of my favorite songs of the year, EXORCISM)

wow...thats the top-of-my-head list. there wasnt a whole lot of stuff i got into this year.

GREAT ALBUMS OF 08 THAT I CAN STILL REMEMBER ACTUALLY CAME OUT IN 08:Dig Lazarus Dig - Nick Cave and the Bad SeedsEverything That Happens Will Happen Today - David Byrne/Brian EnoDream 4:13 - The Cure (mostly good)

OPETH - Watershed THE MARS VOTLA - The Bedlam In GolaithFunnily I've never been a huge fan of neither one of them, but this year they got me. Well, at least Opeth was always a pleasure to see on stage, but I never needed to listen to them at home in the past. Interesting fact is, that a lot of longtime fans don't seem to like "Watershed" that much compared to other releases of the band. But I really LOVE it. And that although it has a strong folk edge, which normally isn't my thing at all. The bronce medal would go out to

BURST - Lazarus BirdActually the same thing: Never got into them before, although I tried out an album years ago (and I've always been a fan of the bass player's former band Nasum), but the new one really caught me. Maybe it's because some of the guitar work on it reminds me a bit of Mastodon ...

Other albums that at least to me were outstanding this year:PHOBIA - 22 Acts Of Random Violence (again, like their '06 album "Cruel": Old School Grindcore at it's very, very best)BAD DUDES - Eat Drugs ("Party-Prog")GOJIRA - The Way Of All Flesh (Those guys really are french? F**k me!!! But you gotta love their kind of progressive and athmospheric Metal)RUSSIAN CIRCLES - Station (Instrumental Postrock meets Metal-Riffing)SCOTT KELLY - The Wake (just one guy from Neurosis and his acoustic guitar. And it's awesome)

And then there was a lot of other great stuff by Nine Inch Nails, Adebisi Shank, Testament, Dub Trio, Minus, off'tan'discord ;), Fuck The Facts, Melvins, The Cavalera Conspiracy, Harvey Milk, Smoke Blow, Rotten Sound, Light Pupil Dilate, ... hell, even the Alice Cooper record was quite good.Musically, 2008 has been a great year to me so far.

@Alastair: Can't really tell you why, but somehow Kelly worked out for me better than Von Till so far. He by the way performed his stuff in a church (!!!) in my direct neighbourhood and it has been one of those rarely special concert experiences...

@knome514 : Just reminded me to check out the latest Colour Haze, because I haven't yet. Great live band, by the way!!! Probably the best thing (and one of the very, very few goods things besides Augustiner Beer) that ever came out of Munich since the beloved disturbing german language Metal of "Schweisser" (at least the two albums of their most pissed of sounding era) back in the 90ies (now THAT was really the soundtrack for apocalypse) ...

I don't keep up with what comes out very well, but I love Slipknot and Disturbed so they make my favorites without having to try too hard. Slipknot's All Hope Is Gone is awesome. I like Nine Inch Nails but I didn't even know they came out with something new, I'll have to check it out. These days it's easier to say what the best songs are rather than the best albums because not very many bands can manage making a whole album really good.

Dillinger Four's CIVIL WAR. I missed out on Situationist Comedy for some reason and it was great to hear this after the eight years that've passed since they released vs. God. It's one of the very rare albums that I've rabidly anticipated since I heard it was coming out.

It's their usual brand of poppy, snotty punk replete with their usual great titles (parishiltonisametaphore, Americaspremierefaithbasedinitiative, clown cars on cinder blocks) and one-liners ("asked for nothin' and I got it in spades" amongst others). There's even a wonderfully positive song in "Gainsville" for all the jaded punks.